


Secrets and Surprises

by laireshi



Category: Marvel 616
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Happy Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2019-03-27 23:06:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13891050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laireshi/pseuds/laireshi
Summary: Tony's preparing for his and Steve's anniversary. The only issue? Steve realises that Tony's hiding something and, given their history, suspects it's something sinister.





	Secrets and Surprises

**Author's Note:**

  * For [faite](https://archiveofourown.org/users/faite/gifts).



> This is for the lovely faite! HAPPY BIRTHDAY. I HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT DAY AND AN EVEN BETTER YEAR.
> 
> It's written for this one of your prompts: "Steve and Tony get together after the incursions, but their relationship is still rocky. When Tony starts behaving suspiciously, in a way that reminds Steve of how Tony was during the mindwipe, Steve can't help but assume the worst because of their shared history. Except it turns out Tony was just planning something special for the two of them all along."

“Wake up, old man.”

Steve opens his eyes to see Tony’s face inches away from his, blue eyes bright in the morning sun. 

“Morning,” Steve says. 

Tony leans in to kiss him and then leans back before Steve can pull him into bed with him. “Ah, none of that now,” he says. “I’ve got an idea.”

Steve blinks the rest of the sleep out of his eyes and takes Tony in. His looks confirm what Steve knew already—the only way Tony gets to wake him is if he didn’t go to sleep at all, even if Steve does distinctly remember Tony kissing him good night and promising to join him in bed soon. He’s still wearing the blue t-shirt he stole from Steve—“it’s comfy,” Tony said when confronted, and refused to give it up even when Steve started kissing down his neck—and he’s unshaven. Steve spares a thought to wondering how Tony’s cheek would feel against his thighs right now and firmly tells himself to stop. 

“What is it?” he asks, sitting up. 

“Coffee first.” Tony tosses Steve a t-shirt to put on. 

“Sleep might be better for you,” Steve mock-argues. He knows this one is a lost battle, and Tony doesn’t even dignify him with an answer. They walk to the kitchen, hand in hand, and then Tony makes Steve sit while he prepares him fried eggs. 

“What’s the occasion?” Steve asks. “You’re not usually that chipper in the morning, even if you never went to sleep.”

“Can’t I make breakfast for my boyfriend?” Tony asks.

“I do appreciate it,” Steve says. 

“Not really showing it, soldier.” Tony pouts. 

“I _would_ show you just how much,” Steve says, “but I’m afraid you’d burn the eggs.”

Tony shakes his finger at him. As he’s holding a spatula, it just looks amusing. “I told you, none of that. We have plans.”

Steve is pretty sure he could convince Tony if he tried—but they are in the communal kitchen, anyone could walk in at any moment, and their breakfast _would_ get ruined. “My plans are better than your plans,” he settles on saying, and Tony glowers at him in return. 

They eat breakfast, even if Tony’s consists of more coffee than food, and then Tony’s grabbing Steve by his hand and pulling him to the elevator. Steve follows, amused and more than a bit curious. Tony rubs circles into the back of Steve’s palm with his thumb, and uses his free hand to punch in the code for the workshop level. 

Steve looks around for any hints of what Tony has in mind once they’re in his lab, but it looks the same as ever, parts of the armour and other devices lying around. Tony works best when he multitasks, he’s probably working on a dozen different problems or so. 

Tony stops Steve at the wall to the left from the entrance and grins. Steve doesn’t notice him make any gesture, but the wall slides away as they stand there, revealing a hidden recess. There’s a mannequin inside, and on it, what’s unmistakeably a new Captain America uniform. 

“Your suit got torn,” Tony says in explanation.

“You fixed it,” Steve reminds him.

Tony shrugs. “So I did. But I thought it was time for an update. You deserve the best.” His voice goes low at the end. 

Steve pulls his hand free of Tony’s grasp and steps to the uniform. It’s similar in design to his current one, but the colours are slightly darker. There’s a touch of blue in the mid-section—obviously reinforced, though as Steve touches it, the material feels incredibly soft to his hands. The sleeves are navy blue from shoulders to hands, and then the hands are protected by gloves—fingerless ones.

Steve taps at them. “That’s not really practical,” he says.

“I knew you'd say that.” He doesn’t sound like he minds.

A shelf slides out of the wall with a pair of strong-looking, red gloves set upon it. Steve grins. “That’s more like it.”

“The fingerless gloves do have their uses, though,” Tony says from behind Steve. “There’s nothing quite like touching bare skin.” His voice goes low, husky even, and Steve swallows. 

“I could be persuaded,” he lets out. 

“Nope,” Tony says. “I need you to actually test out the uniform first.”

Steve looks at him in disbelief. “It’s you, Tony. I know it’ll be amazing. Thank you.”

“ _And_ you’ll test it now,” Tony says with a sweet smile. He steps around Steve, slides the fingerless gloves off the mannequin and pockets them. “I’ll keep those safe for _later_.”

Steve thinks he might be dating a supervillain. That’s the only explanation for how _evil_ Tony is.

***

A few days later, Steve lets himself into Tony’s lab. He knows Tony’s there—has been there for hours, in fact. Steve’s holding a pizza box and balancing two cups of coffee, aware that he might not be able to lure Tony out. 

“Your meal, Mister Stark,” he says, and Tony almost jumps in his chair.

“Christ, Steve,” he says, blacking out his screens. “Warn a man.”

“I got into your workshop, I didn’t think that was possible without you knowing.” Steve sets the coffee at Tony’s desk. 

“Why would I have alarms set for you?” Tony asks, reaching for the coffee. “Mm. This smells amazing. You’re the best boyfriend.”

“Does it mean you’ll go up with me?” Steve asks. 

Tony shakes his head. “Working.” 

“It was worth a try,” Steve says. “What’s the project?” He passes Tony a slice of pizza.

Tony bites into it, an expression of pure bliss on his face. “This is good,” he says.

Steve takes a slice for himself and sits at the edge of Tony’s desk. “So what’s got you holed up in here all day?”

Something crosses Tony’s face for less than a second. “Resilient stuff,” he hurries to explain. “ R&D got back to me.”

Steve nods. He wants to say something else when both of their Avengers cards go off.

Tony sighs, stuffing the rest of the pizza slice into his mouth. 

“Guess I’ll get to test the uniform in field,” Steve calls, already running for the elevator. 

“Meet you at the roof!” Tony’s armour is already flying to him. 

The Avengers assemble.

***

The fight is easy, luckily enough, and they’re returning home not long after.

“I hate magic,” Tony complains on the comms. Steve’s uniform held up against hard claws of the creature they fought, but it had apparently appeared invisible to Tony’s sensors. Doctor Strange’s arrival explained that. 

Of course, Tony would grumble for a few hours yet. 

“I’d give you a kiss to make you feel better, but—” Steve doesn’t have to finish the sentence. Tony slows their flight and opens his faceplate. Steve shifts enough to be able to face him, Tony’s arms safely locked around his waist, and kisses him, the wind howling around them. 

He’s still running on adrenaline, but he keeps the kiss soft, gentle; caring rather than heated. 

“I love you,” Tony whispers against his lips, and Steve holds onto him and says it back. 

In the Tower, Tony disassembles his armour and smoothly takes off his undersuit, but he doesn’t let Steve undress, only opens his trousers and pulls him closer. 

Steve presses him against the wall and they get lost in each other.

***

Steve wakes up at night. He reaches for Tony, but the bed is empty. He sighs. 

Tony’s busy with his company, Steve gets it, but he’d like to sleep next to him, too. 

He finally sees him in the early afternoon, walking into the Avengers kitchen, talking to someone. “Okay,” he says. “Bye, Reed.”

He sees Steve and his expression immediately softens. Steve might be slightly distracted by a line of love bites on Tony’s neck. Tony usually covers himself when Steve marks him, seeing him like that outside of their bedroom is a rare treat. 

“I missed you at night,” Steve says even as Tony steps into his arms.

“Sorry.” Tony leans his forehead against Steve’s. “I have a deadline.”

Steve pouts. 

Tony closes his eyes. “Nope, don’t give me that face.” 

Steve licks him on the nose for that, and Tony sputters, laughing. “Oh come on!”

Steve doesn’t feel sorry. He was the one to open his eyes to an empty room tonight, after all. Tony’s surprise just now was way better. 

“It’ll be over soon,” Tony promises, but something in his voice is serious. 

Steve frowns. “You all right?” he asks. 

Tony kisses him in the answer.

“Seriously, guys, in the kitchen?”

“It’s my Tower, I can kiss my boyfriend wherever I damn well want, Clint,” he says, but he steps away from Steve. 

Clint’s in the doorway, one hand comically over his eyes, and Steve knows it’s unfair to glare at him but that doesn’t stop him one bit.

***

Steve’s staring at his phone. There’s an unanswered call from Tony—he must’ve missed it when he was showering—and text sent after that, reading just _Sorry, can’t make it tonight_. 

It’s not like they had important plans—a quiet evening in, just the two of them watching something and free of distractions. Clint and Carol promised to cover any emergencies. Steve was looking forward to it. He thought that so did Tony, but he didn’t even come up from his lab to tell Steve in person. 

Steve sighs. He knows he’s being unfair, but he just _misses_ spending time with Tony so much. He’s been spending so much time over that project lately. Steve reminds himself it’s supposed to be over soon and prepares to head to bed early.

***

_A group of shadowed figures is standing over him. He’s feeling dizzy, weak; he wants to get up but can’t._

_Tony’s laughing. “Did you really think that we needed you? That I did_?”

Steve sits up, covered in sweat, shivering, feeling cold and empty.

 _Don’t be stupid_ , he tells himself. The nightmare is both old and untrue. They moved past the incursions mess. They fixed things. Tony loves him. 

But as Steve reaches to touch Tony’s arm, reassure himself, he discovers that once again he’s all alone in their giant bed, and then it all slides into place.

His new uniform, presented like a gift. Tony switching off his screens when Steve might be looking. The secrecy, the call from Reed, the cancelled plans. 

Steve feels sick. How could he have been so naive? How could he have thought he really can trust Tony again, after everything he’s done?

He gets up. He dresses in mechanical movements in his old uniform. He puts his shield on his arm.

He wants to go to Tony’s lab, stop whatever scheme he’s working on now, but he can’t bring himself to move. His legs feel weak, and he sits down at the edge of the bed, holding on to his shield like a lifeline.

He’s not sure how long he’s been sitting like this when a voice pulls him out of it. 

“Steve?” Tony’s standing in the doorway in his workshop clothes, Steve’s blue t-shirt too big on him. 

Steve stands up. He wants to shake Tony, make him stop lying. “What are you lying about this time?” he asks in an empty voice. 

Tony looks at him quizzically. “What?”

“Don’t play games with me,” Steve growls. “You’re hiding something.”

Tony goes pale. “I—”

“Superhero Registration Act. Incursions,” Steve enunciates. “What is it now?”

Tony looks down. He bites on his lip.

“Tell me!” Steve yells, taking a step forward.

Tony straightens. His eyes look glassy. “It’s our anniversary tomorrow,” he finally says in a voice that sounds painfully brittle. “I wanted to surprise you.”

Steve feels as if Tony punched him. “You—what?” he asks, backing away.

“I wanted to make it special,” Tony says. “You—you deserve that. I finished your uniform, but I couldn’t wait to give it to you, and then I got another idea—anyway.” He cuts himself off, his expression smooth and fake. 

Steve shakes his head mutely. He’s reeling. He doesn’t know what to say. 

“I’m sorry,” Tony adds, and looks away from Steve again. “I should’ve known better to sneak around you, after everything else I’ve done.”

 _Tony’s sorry_? It’s not his fault, it’s . . . “I should’ve trusted you,” Steve says. 

Tony just shrugs. 

“Tony, I—”

“I was better at hiding it when I was actually lying to you,” Tony says, a joke so forced Steve wants to cry. “But the thing is, Steve, you are right. I did lie to you so many times.”

“No, Tony—”

“You told me we were okay,” Tony talks over him. “Almost a year ago. You said we’d look forward. I—I knew it was impossible, I’m a futurist, but I let myself hope—”

Steve drops his shield. It falls with a loud noise, but neither of them seems to notice. He crosses the room to Tony and touches his arm.

“I—”

“It’s okay.” Tony steps away from his touch. “I’ll sleep in my lab. I’ll get my things when you’re not here.”

He turns before Steve can react, and Steve can just look as Tony leaves, and pretend he didn’t see the tears glistening in Tony’s eyes.

He stands in place, without moving, his body feeling alien to him. Why was he so quick to blame Tony? Tony wouldn’t—not now, not when they’re together— _Steve should’ve trusted him_. 

He thinks he just broke them more completely than any of Tony’s betrayals could’ve ever hurt. 

Finally, he strips out of his uniform, angrily kicks it in the corner. He puts on soft, non-threatening clothes. He does what he should’ve done the moment Tony disappeared from his sight, and runs to him. 

***

He half-expects the workshop door to remain closed when he inputs his code, but it opens to let him in as easily as always. Steve hesitates. He’s not sure what he can do or say to make it better, but he knows he loves Tony too much not to try. 

“Tony?” he asks.

There’s no answer, but when he steps into the lab, he sees Tony sitting on his cot, his head in his hands, his elbows on his knees. His shoulders are shaking. 

Steve wants to go back in time and yell at himself. 

“I’m sorry,” he says, so inadequate. 

Tony wipes his hand across his eyes. He looks at Steve, but he doesn’t get up. Only now does Steve see that Tony’s been holding something in his other hand, but he can’t really see what it is. He’s not going to ask. 

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Tony says, and the worst thing is how he sounds like he believes it. “I never gave you a reason to trust me.”

“You gave me more than enough reasons,” Steve snaps. He immediately chides himself. He’s not here to _argue_ with Tony, for God’s sake. He steels himself. “I had a nightmare. About—about the incursions. This isn’t an excuse, but—”

“Face it, Steve,” Tony says quietly. “We’ve always been a bad idea.”

“No,” Steve says. “If you—if you never want to look at me again, that’s okay. I understand. But _don’t_ tell me we don’t work together, don’t tell me it’s a bad idea when you’re the best thing to ever happen to me—”

“You might believe that,” Tony says. “But I’m also the worst thing to happen to you. I knew that, but I let myself be selfish.”

Selfish? That word didn’t belong in one sentence with Tony Stark. 

“I’m sorry that I didn’t trust you,” Steve repeats. 

“Stop apologising for what you feel,” Tony says quietly, defeated. His eyes are still red and his voice is hoarse and Steve hates seeing him like that and hates that he did it. 

“Stop telling me what I feel!” Steve shakes his head.

“All we ever do is argue,” Tony points out.

 _It’s not true_ , Steve thinks, but he doesn’t say it, unwilling to prove Tony’s point. Yes, they clash. That’s why they fit so well together.

“I made a stupid mistake,” Steve says. “I hurt you. I can never apologise enough for this. But Tony, unless you want me to, and I don’t mean _you think it’s better to make this decision for me_ , I’m not leaving you.”

“I will always love you,” Tony says. “But we can’t pretend we don’t have years of issues.”

“We overcame them,” Steve says. “God, Tony, I’d ask you to marry me if that would make you believe I’m serious here.”

He’s prepared for Tony’s rejection. He’s not prepared for Tony to inhale loudly and shake again.

And then Tony opens his hand, and Steve realises that what he’s been holding onto this whole time was a small, velvet box.

A small, velvet box looking dangerously like a ring box.

But it can’t be.

“Tony . . . ?” Steve asks.

“I said I wanted to surprise you,” Tony mutters, looking away. “I—I wasn’t sure if you’d like it—I wasn’t sure I’d be brave enough to ask.”

Steve walks to Tony’s side. He wants to run, but instead he steps softly, giving Tony time to stop him if he wants to. But Tony doesn’t move, not even as Steve kneels next to him so they’re on one level.

“I’m sorry,” Steve says again. He extends his hand and closes Tony’s fingers around the box again. He breathes in, out, and leaves his hand covering Tony’s. 

“It’s okay,” Tony answers.

It’s not okay. But if Tony lets him make amends, maybe it will be.

“I want this,” Steve says, squeezing Tony’s hand. “But not right now. Not when I just hurt you.”

Tony’s staring at him, his eyes wide. “You do?” he asks.

“Yes,” Steve tells him, certain of that like he’s never been of anything else in his life. 

Tony’s smile still looks brittle, but he’s no longer trying to convince Steve to leave him. That’s a win, in Steve’s opinion. 

“Can I kiss you?” Steve asks. He’ll understand if Tony wants time. He’ll understand everything. But he needs Tony to know he’s never doubting him again. 

Tony nods.

It’s far from their first kiss, but Steve’s still choked up from the short-lived hurt and guilt that he knows won’t leave him soon, and yet they’re together, holding hands over a ring box, and it feels like the most important kiss they’ve shared. 


End file.
